A top Philippine lawmaker has called on the government to pay attention to the European Union’s latest warning against its alleged human right abuses and extrajudicial killings, expressing fear the E.U. may take action that hurts the country’s exports, including tuna, The Manila Bulletin reported on 21 September.
Last week, the E.U. Parliament passed a resolution threatening to impose immediate trade sanctions against the Philippines for the “rapidly deteriorating human rights" situation in the Southeast Asian nation, CNN Philippines reported.
In their resolution, the E.U. lawmakers urged the European Commission to start off the procedure for temporarily withdrawing the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) program granted by the bloc to the Philippines "in the absence of any substantial improvement and willingness to cooperate on the part of the Philippine authorities."
If the sanctions are applied, the country may lose the preferential tariff rates on many products exported to the E.U., the Philippines’ Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said.
“Just to give you an example, just the tuna industry in Mindanao, in General Santos – the tuna coming from the Philippines entering the E.U. enjoys preferential tariff rates so that we can start in competition with more efficient countries. And a removal of our GSP privileges will result to higher tariffs on our products, 6,000 items, in the tariff code of the E.U. enjoyed by the Philippines under the GSP program will be perilous, will be lost,” Drilon said.
Local labor unions said they fear around 200,000 jobs in the Philippines will be affected if the GSP is removed.
A trade group of European companies in the Philippines, however, has called on the E.U. to continue maintaining the preferential tariff program for the Philippines.
“The European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) strongly calls for the retention of the GSP+ grant in the Philippines. Such a decision will result in massive social and economic repercussions to the Philippines, and will compromise the notable progress that the European Union and the Philippines have built over the years,” ECCP President Nabil Francis told the Philippine News Agency.
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